Berlin from the Beginning

Today was our first day with our history teacher on board. We got to listen to his abbreviated version of German and Berlin beginnings in the actual spot that it all began. To summarize his abbreviation in terms of what we saw today and what we're dealing w/ as a class - Berlin and Germany as a whole has always struggled to find their identity as a country/city. They don't necessarily have roots from the Roman Empire like say places in England and other countries do. The word "german" in those formative years meant barbaric, or land of barbarians. Throughout this land's history, the people have been taken over/controlled by different nations, the Slavs in particular. In WWII Berlin, as everyone knows, was split and controlled by 4 different nations. During that time, much of their country destroyed forcing the people to start over and rebuild. Alot of their history was erased and built on top of. So, the questions we have started to raise today deal with: when do you preserve the past, when do you tear it down? When you look at buildings that have been rebuilt to "look authentic" is it really then authentic? Are we experiencing things how they once were, or should we try to experience things the way they were after they've been erased or face it and move on?

ARCHITECTURE

So, today those questions sort of framed our views of the buildings we saw. We started out in Alexanderplatz and the surroundings seeing several churches (kirche in german). While each church was different in certain ways expressing different period characteristics in various ways, they all had a layered quality in common. You could see where the original building stopped and the additions/renovations began ... some of these churches dated back to the 1200's! These churches were really neat examples of old vs. new and how Berliners/Germans deal with these changes over time. Its also interesting to see this condition move from a macro to micro scale - in the way a church from 1270 sits adjacent to a 1970's modern building in the same plaza, and then how the building is detailed throughout these changes within itself.

CULTURE

Food: I've grown quite fond of the Doner Kebap. I'm quite surprised that I enjoy something w/ cabbage in it! For all of you who know my love of fruit flavored things - I found peach ice tea today! haha they were actually out today, but I atleast know it exists over here! (now its just a question of whether its sweet tea or not...) Another funny thing we've seen are strawberry stands. I thought it was just an art installation the first time i saw it, but later realized they open it up and sell strawberries out of it! .... think snow cone stand for strawberries but painted to look like a giant strawberry. These are in the subway stations and sometimes on the streets. Very random.

Tonight we went to a pizza place... kind of like a jasons deli for pizza, pasta, and salad. very good. But during dinner conversation, someone knew what I ate the other night that I didn't like. I almost died when they told me. The pork dish i had that was cold was described as "pork head cheese", and apparently this is prepared by boiling down a pig head for hours and then making a "cheese" out of it. Its not really cheese it just has some fat in it. And apparently they don't even make this in America. So, I ate cold fatty pig head the other night and did not have a clue! I definitely won't be having that again! Its kind of like finding out what goes in boudin.... you just don't want to know.

I think we've decided that they don't bury their utilities underground (like water lines). So at random streets around town you see these fairly big blue or pink pipes snaking around above ground. It makes you realize why we bury them in America, but then again its kind of cool how they've not tried to hide stuff like that ... they make it an art almost.

A couple of us have had conversations about the greatness of the train system. We find it pretty amazing that we can't survive in Ruston (or home) w/o a car, but we can get anywhere we want over here w/o one. We may actually walk the distance of Ruston in a day, but they way they organize their cities makes that possible w/o being run over.

Germany won their first world cup game last night! We got back into town to cheering in the streets, horns honking, fireworks going off, and just a good atmosphere. We're crossing our fingers Germany continues to do well, so everyone will be in good spirits! We've been talking about how we wish Americans had a national pride and unification like you see here. Its a really cool feeling - much like all of Louisiana was after the Saints won the superbowl ... but on a grander scale.

Tomorrow we're off to Potsdam. Until then...